Network resource management with prediction

ABSTRACT

An indicator for a device may provide an indication that a threshold associated with a budget for a network resource has or will be reached. When a user requests a network operation that will consume the network resource, an amount of the network resource to be consumed by the operation is predicted, if possible. If the prior use of the network resource and the amount to be used to complete the network operation exceeds a threshold the user may be warned and given an opportunity to cancel the operation or adjust the way in which the operation will be performed. If the amount of network resource a network operation will consume is unknown, a rate of use of the network resource is determined and a time until the budget is reached is estimated.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of prior application Ser. No.12/726,209, filed Mar. 17, 2010. The aforementioned application Ser. No.12/726,209 is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Computing devices can provide network connectivity using a number ofdifferent wired and wireless technologies. The networks to which devicesconnect are sometimes provided as a subscription-based service for whicha consumer pays. Familiar examples of network services are wirelinetelephone services, wireless phone voice and data services, Internetservices, and television services. While the service plans that networkservice providers offer vary widely in terms and structure, many serviceplans are based on providing a limited amount of access to a networkresource at a fixed cost. If a user exceeds the usage limit the networkservice provider usually charges the customer for each additionalincrement of use. For example, a wireless phone plan may permit acertain number of voice minutes and a certain amount of data betransferred for the customer during a month. When a customer exceeds theusage limit for voice minutes, the network service provider may chargethe customer for each minute over the limit. Similar overage charges maybe imposed for data transfers once the data usage limit is exceeded.

SUMMARY

The inventors have recognized and appreciated that the complexityassociated with the manner in which network services are used makes itdifficult for users of network services to anticipate when servicelimits will be reached or exceeded. Consequently, users may be facedwith unexpected costs incurred due to exceeding a usage limit of anetwork resource associated with a network service. Without feedback, itcan be difficult for the user to predict whether the usage limit hasbeen exceeded, particularly if the user shares the network resource withother users or if the network resource is accessed from multiple devicesor by multiple applications.

A tool may be provided for managing network resources by budgeting useof the network resource across users, devices, and applications. As oneexample, a user device may be configured to provide an indicator showingthe user that usage of the network resource is approaching, has reachedor exceeded a budgeted limit. The user, now knowing the usage of thenetwork resource, may be afforded the opportunity to adjust use of thenetwork resource accordingly. Budgets may be set for one or moreentities acting as network resource consumers that may share a networksubscription. The entities, for example, may be users, devices orapplications.

In some embodiments, an indicator is output from a user device when anamount of the network resource used approaches the usage limit. Forexample, a threshold may be set as a percentage of the usage limit, forexample, 90% of the usage limit. When the threshold is met or exceeded,the indicator is output.

In some embodiments, when a consumer of network resources initiates anoperation that would consume a network resource, a prediction is made ofhow much of the network resource the operation will consume. If theoperation involves transfer over the network of content that is of aknown size, an indicator may be output on the user device if completingthe operation results in exceeding a usage threshold. If the content isof unknown size, an indicator may be output indicating how long theoperation may continue before the usage limit is reached. The system maycontrol whether use of the network resource is stopped or allowed tocontinue once the usage limit of the network resource has been reached.

Some aspects relate to managing a set of one or more network servicesfor a group of one or more users. An administrative tool may allow anadministrator of the group to view network resource usage and set policyrelated to resource usage for the group of user. For example, theadministrator may set a budget for each user of a shared networkresource. A user's budget may guarantee the user access to a portion ofthe network resource or may simply limit the user's access provided theoverall usage limit of the resource is not exceeded. In someembodiments, a guaranteed budget and a shared budget is defined for eachuser in a group that shares a network resource.

In some embodiments the administrative tool allows the user to revieweach user in the group's use of the set of network services. Theadministrative tool may further permit review of network resources perdevice and/or per application. Budgets may be set for devices andapplications across user or per user.

The foregoing is a non-limiting summary of the invention, which isdefined by the attached claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In thedrawings, each identical or nearly identical component that isillustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. Forpurposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in everydrawing. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a exemplary usage scenario according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2A shows a block diagram of a user device according to someembodiments;

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a database according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method of managing a network resourceaccording to some embodiments;

FIGS. 4A-4B show indicators of network resource consumption according tosome embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method of managing a network resourceaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 6A shows an indicator of network resource consumption according tosome embodiments;

FIG. 6B shows a prompt displayed on a user device indicating a usagelimit of a network resource has been reached;

FIG. 6C shows a user device that is communicating with a network serviceusing a low bandwidth connection in response to a user selection; and

FIGS. 7-12B show user interfaces of an administrative tool according tosome embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventors have recognized and appreciated that the user experienceof networked computers can be improved by allowing users of a networkservice to control and monitor their usage of a network resource. Forexample, a user may monitor her use of the network resource to avoidexceeding a usage limit of the network resource. Once a user'sconsumption of the network resource exceeds the usage limit, a serviceplan may deny access to the network service or require the user to payfor additional access. As current systems place a large burden on usersto assess their usage of the network, a user may be unaware that she isapproaching or has exceeded the usage limit set by her service plan. Theinventors have recognized and appreciated that use of network resourcesmay be managed by setting resource use budgets for users, devices,and/or applications. The budgets may be used to control an indicatorthat may be output on a user device if the user is approaching, reachedor has exceeded a budgeted limit. In this way users of a shared orunshared network resource are given the opportunity to make a decisionregarding further usage of the network resource.

In conjunction with specifying budgets, actions upon reaching orexceeding thresholds defined as part of the budget may also be defined.These actions may include warning a user of an approaching limit,switching to a lower bandwidth connection or blocking access to anetwork service. These actions may be taken automatically by a componentof a computer system that manages connections to networks or othersuitable component within a networked computing device.

To facilitate setting of budgets, an administrative tool is providedthat allows an administrator of the group of users to review usage ofnetwork resources by the group of users and set budgets for users,devices and applications as desired. The budgets may provide guaranteedand/or maximum limits of a network resource that a user, device, orapplication may consume.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary usage scenario 100. Usagescenario 100 includes a group of users 110 that may use user devices130-137 to access network services 120. In FIG. 1, users and devices arerelated by solid double arrowed lines, and devices and services arerelated by dashed double arrowed line. These relationships are merelyexamples, and any suitable relationship may exist between users devicesand network services.

Network services 120 may include any type of network service that may beprovided over a wired and/or wireless network. Network services mayinclude, for example and not limitation, wireline telephone services,wireless telephone services, wireless data services, wired and wirelessInternet access services, and wired and wireless television and radioservices. Though, network services 120 may include any informationservice that may be delivered through wired or wireless communications.Each network service may be provided by a respective network serviceprovider. A user or a group of users may have a relationship with thenetwork service provider that allows the user or group to access thenetwork service. The relationship may be defined by a service plan.

Each of users 110 may be associated with certain user devices such thatusage of network services 120 by the device may be assigned to aparticular user. Some computing devices may be exclusively orpredominantly associated with a single user. For example, cellular phone130 is used predominantly by user 112, smart phone 131 is usedpredominantly by user 114, netbook 132 and PDA 133 are usedpredominantly by user 116, and smart phone 134 is used predominantly byuser 118. Though different users have different individual devices,multiple users may share a subscription such that network operationsperformed by any device that share the subscription may count towardsany limits of the subscription.

Some devices may be shared by multiple users. If a network subscriptionis accessed through such a shared device, usage bay any of the users maycount towards any limits of the subscription. For example, users 112 and114 may share computer 136, users 116 and 118 may share computer 137,and the group of users 110 may each use console 135. In someembodiments, user accounts may be established on devices so that use ofa network resource may be associated with a specific user. Users mayalso be associated implicitly with use of a network resource. Forexample, use may be assigned to the predominant user of a device.Though, network resource use may be associated with a user in anysuitable way.

In addition to associating use of a network resource with a particularuser, network resource usage may also be associated with andindividually limited for particular applications. In this way use of thenetwork resource is effectively shared such that network usage byfrivolous applications may be limited or prevented.

In some embodiments, one or more of the users in the group of users 110is an administrator of the group. One or more of the user devices mayprovide an administrative tool for the administrator to monitor andcontrol access to the network services. Though, use of the networkservices may be monitored and controlled in any suitable way. In someembodiments, for example, the devices may report network resource usageto the administrative tool.

The users, devices, services, and the interrelationships shown in usagescenario 100 are purely exemplary. Any suitable number or users,devices, or services; types of devices or services; andinterrelationships thereof may be used.

FIG. 2A shows a block diagram of a user device 200 according to someembodiments. User device 200 may be any suitable type of computingdevice. For example and not limitation, user device may be any of theuser devices illustrated in exemplary usage scenario 100 (FIG. 1). Userdevice 200 is illustrative and a specific embodiment of a user devicemay have components other than the components show in FIG. 2A. In someembodiments, user device 200 comprises a processor 201, memory 202, userinterface (UI) devices 203 and network interfaces 204.

Processor 201 may be a processor as known in the art or any suitableprocessing device. For example and not limitation, processor 201 may bea central processing unit (CPU), digital signal processor (DSP),controller, addressable controller, general or special purposemicroprocessor, microcontroller, addressable microprocessor,programmable processor, programmable controller, dedicated processor,dedicated controller, or any other suitable processing device.

Memory 202 may store data and/or software modules containingcomputer-executable instructions that when executed by processor 201perform a desired function. Memory 202 may be a computer-readablestorage medium as is known in the art or any suitable type ofcomputer-readable storage medium. For example and not limitation, memory202 may be RAM, a nanotechnology-based memory, one or more floppy discs,compact discs, optical discs, volatile and non-volatile memory devices,magnetic tapes, flash memories, hard disk drive, circuit configurationsin Field Programmable Gate Arrays, other semiconductor devices, or othertangible computer storage medium or combination thereof.

UI devices 203 may include any type of UI device for providing and/orreceiving information including user interface devices as known in theart. I/O devices 103 may include, for example and not limitation, akeypad such as a keyboard, pointing device such as a mouse or trackball,microphone, joystick, touch screen display, display, speaker, removablestorage drives, or a combination thereof.

User device 200 may include any suitable number of network interfaces204. Each network interface may be an interface suitable for wiredand/or wireless communication and may be implemented through anysuitable combination of hardware and software configured to communicateover a network. For example, a network interface may be implemented as anetwork interface driver and a network interface card (NIC). The drivermay be configured to receive instructions from other components of userdevice 200 to perform operations with the NIC.

A wired network interface may be any suitable type of interface forconnecting to a network over a wire (e.g., Ethernet, fiber-optic,coaxial).

A wireless network interface may contain hardware components, such as atransmitter and receiver to receive and transmit information wirelesslyto and from user device 200. Each wireless network interface may beconfigured to support any suitable wireless communications protocol. Forexample, a wireless interface may be configured to support any standardor proprietary communications protocol, such as those for wirelesspersonal area network (WPAN), wireless local area network (WLAN),wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless metropolitan area networks(wireless MAN), wireless wide area network (WWAN), or other types ofnetworks. Network interfaces 204 may, for example and not limitation, beconfigured for use with any of IEEE 802.11, Wi-Fi, ultra-wide band (UWB)technologies, Bluetooth, Wireless USB, WiMedia, WiMax, Wireless 1394,Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA), Global System for Mobilization (GSM), Cellular Digital PacketData (GPRS), or General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).

User device 200 may also include modules configured to perform specificfunctions. In the illustrated embodiment, user device 200 includes anoperating system 206 (OS) and applications 205. Though, user device 200may have any suitable modules. Modules may be implemented in hardware,software, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, amodule may comprise computer-executable instructions. The instructionsmay be stored in memory 202 and executed by processor 201.

OS 206 may manage the activities and sharing of resources of user device200. OS 206 may provide various functions and manage user device 200through various components. These components may include, for exampleand not limitation, dynamically linked libraries (e.g., a dynamic-linklibrary), application programming interfaces (APIs), component objectmodels (COMs), globally unique identifiers, registry keys, or anyuniquely identifiable part of OS 206.

Applications 205 may include any suitable computer applications. In theembodiment illustrated, applications 205 may consume network resources.For example, applications 205 may send and receive e-mails, downloadfiles or access web pages. Though, user device 200 may include anysuitable applications.

Device 200 may further include components to manage network usage. Thesecomponents may include, for example, an administrative tool 207 thatallows an administrative user to set budget limits and specify actionsupon reaching thresholds associated with these limits, a usage monitor208, and a network service connector 209. These components may be partof the operating system or may be regarded as applications. However, theimplementation as an application or operating system component is notcritical. For example, in some embodiments, administrative tool 207,usage monitor 208, and network service connector 209 may be implementedas modules of operating system 206.

Network service connector 209 is a module for establishing, maintainingand terminating connectivity between network services and user device200. Network service connector 209 may control network interfaces 204 toprovide connectivity to the network services.

Administrative tool 207 is a module for managing a consumer's or groupof consumers' use of one or more network resources. Administrative tool207 may provide an interface through UI devices 203 through which aconsumer or an administrator may manage subscriptions to networkservices. In some embodiments, administrative tool 207 is restricted foruse to one or more administrators. Users that are not administrators maynot be able to use administrative tool 207 or may only be able to viewinformation without the ability to make changes. Though, access toadministrative tool 207 may be configured in any suitable way.

In some embodiments, administrative tool 207 provides an interface forreviewing how the network resources are being consumed. Administrativetool 207 may detail which consumers have used a network resource, whenthey used it, how much they used, what device or application they usedto consume the resource, and the like. Administrative tool 207 may alsoprovide an interface for establishing policy for how the networkresources may be used. Administrative tool 207 may provide an interfacefor setting budgets for resource consumers. For example, resourceconsumers such as users, devices and applications may each have a budgetset through administrative tool 207. Administrative tool 207 may also beused to set thresholds for warning a user that a budget or usage limitis being approached. The resource consumption by users or user groups,devices and applications may be checked against the policy and presentedthrough a user interface of administrative tool 207. Some examples of auser interface of administrative tool 207 are subsequently discussedwith reference to FIGS. 7-12.

Usage monitor 208 is a module for monitoring consumption of networkresources on device 200 and/or other devices that share a subscription.Usage monitor 208 may be configured to track usage and determine whethera budget for a network resource has been met or exceeded. In someembodiments, usage monitor 208 provides an indication that a thresholdassociated with a budget has been exceeded. Usage monitor 208 may beused to predict if or when a budget or usage limit will be exceeded. Insome embodiments, usage monitor 208 reports network resource usage toadministrative tool 207. If administrate tool 207 is on another device,a network connection may be used to report usage to administrative tool207.

In some embodiments, usage monitor 208 interacts with network serviceconnector 209 to issue commands that prevent or limit further access toa network resource once a budget or usage limit has been reached.Though, in some embodiments, usage monitor 208 may not limit use of thenetwork resource. In some embodiments, usage monitor prompts a userregarding an approaching or reached budget and asks the user if shewishes to continue using the network resource, potentially at additionalcost. In some embodiments, usage monitor 208 may present an option toswitch to a different network resource, for example, a resource providedby another network service provider.

Usage monitor 208 may obtain information about thresholds, budgets andusage limits from database 210. Use of a network resource may berecorded by usage monitor 208, for example, in database 210. In someembodiments, use of the network resource may be obtained from a networkservice provider or measured using network interfaces 204. Though, usagemonitor 208 may obtain information in any suitable way.

Usage monitor 208 may obtain information on usage of a network resourcefrom network service connector 209. In addition to obtaining informationon usage of a network resource, usage monitor 208 may obtain informationabout the connection over which the network is accessed. The connection,for example, may identify the user controlling the process that formedthe connection or the application accessing the connection. In someembodiments, a web service is used to obtain network resource usageinformation. In this way, information about usage by user andapplication may be collected.

Usage monitor 208 may alternatively or additionally obtain usageinformation from other sources. For example, usage monitor 208 mayobtain usage information from a network service provider. As anotherexample, in instances where a network subscription may be access frommultiple devices, monitor 208 may obtain usage information from otherdevices, from a central repository to which all of the devices provideinformation or any other suitable location.

Regardless of where usage information is obtained, the details ofnetwork resource usage as well as policy settings used and generated bythe administrative tool 207 may be stored as management information. Insome embodiments, the management information is stored and indexed indatabase 210. As shown in FIG. 2B, the management information stored indatabase 210 may include user information 211, user device information212, network services information 213, and applications information 214.Though, the management information may include other types ofinformation and other types of information may be included in database210. User information 211 may include information about one or moreusers, such as budgets assigned to a user and network services, devicesand applications available to a user. User device information 212 mayinclude information such as a budget assigned to the user device.Network services information 213 may include information about networkservices that may be accessed (e.g., service plans), the networkresources available from each network service, and usage limitsassociated with each network resource. Applications information 214 mayinclude information about budgets assigned to specific applications orgroups of applications. Though, it should be appreciated that managementinformation may include any suitable information and may be organized inany suitable way.

In some embodiments, database 210 may only include information relevantto the users of the user device 200 and the services and applicationsavailable on user device 200. In some embodiments, database 210 may be acomprehensive database of user, device, application, and network serviceinformation. Though, any suitable data may be stored in database 210.

Database 210 may be stored in memory 202. In some embodiments, database210 is a remote database accessible via a network service. Though,database 210 may be stored in any suitable location or multiplelocations. In some embodiments, only a portion of database 210 may bestored locally. For example, the management information related to userdevice 200, its users and applications may be stored locally.

In some embodiments, user device 200 may be configured to control whentime-insensitive content is downloaded. In some embodiments,time-insensitive content is downloaded when usage of the correspondingnetwork resource is below a corresponding threshold. For example, userdevice 200 may perform time-insensitive downloads if less than 20% ofthe network resource has been consumed. In this way time-insensitivecontent such as application updates may be queued for the beginning of aresource usage period avoiding interfering with users at the end of theresource usage period where the network resource may be scarce. In someembodiments, user device 200 may download time-insensitive content latein the resource usage period to minimize or eliminate waste of thenetwork resource. For example, if use of a network resource is projectedto be less than the usage limit the shortfall may be consumed withtime-insensitive downloads.

Having discussed an exemplary usage scenario and the details of a userdevice, a method 300 of managing a network resource of a network serviceis discussed with reference to FIG. 3. In some embodiments, method 300is a computer-implemented method. The steps of method 300 may beperformed on a single computer or performed by two or more computers.Though, method 300 may be implemented in any suitable way. In someembodiments, method 300 is implemented, at least in part, on a userdevice.

At step 301, the usage limit for a network resource of a network serviceis determined. The usage limit represents an amount of the networkresource the user (or group of users) may consume. The usage limit maybe a hard limit that may not be exceeded, or a soft limit that indicatesto the user network resource consumption or makes the user aware ofchanging terms for using the network resource. For example, the usagelimit may indicate how much of the network resource the user, or userssharing the network resource, may consume before being charged at adifferent rate than a current rate.

In some embodiments the network resource is data transferred using anetwork service and the usage limit represents the amount of datatransfer that may be performed for the user or group of users by thenetwork service. For example, a daily, weekly or monthly usage limit maybe set. Though, the usage limit may apply to any suitable time period.In some embodiments, transfer of data is limited by a single usagelimit. For example, the usage may be defined as the total upload anddownload of data. In some embodiments, separate “upload” and “download”usage limits may be defined. Separate instances of method 300 may beperformed for managing upload data transfer and download transfer.Though, method 300 may be implemented in any suitable way.

Any suitable network resource may be monitored. For example, in someembodiments, the network resource is access time. That is, the amount oftime the network is accessed. Another example of a network resource isan upload and/or download data transfer rate. That is, the throughput ofdata to and/or from a user device or group of user devices sharing thenetwork resource. Though, method 300 may be applied for any suitablenetwork resource.

The usage limit may be determined by accessing a database on a userdevice or on a remote server, or from received user input. Though, theusage limit may be determined in any suitable way. In some embodiments,the usage limit is determined by querying a server over a networkconnection to the network service.

At step 303, at least one usage threshold is determined. A usagethreshold represents a level of consumption of the network resource atwhich a notification should be output to the user. In some embodiments,a usage threshold is defined as a fraction of the usage limit. Forexample, the usage threshold may be defined as a percentage of the usagelimit, such as, 80, 90, 95, or 100%. In some embodiments, the usagethreshold is defined as a definite value. A usage threshold having adefinite value may have the same base unit (e.g., byte) as the usagelimit. For example, if the network resource is data the usage limit maybe 500 megabytes (MB) and the usage threshold may be defined as 400 MB.Though, the threshold may be defined in any suitable way.

Unless indicated otherwise, for simplicity the usage threshold ishereinafter taken to have a definite value. If the threshold is definedrelative to the usage limit it may easily be converted into an absolutethreshold. For example, if the threshold is defined as a percentage(e.g., 90%), the absolute threshold is simply that percentage of theusage limit (i.e., 90% of the usage limit). The threshold may bedetermined in ways similar to the usage limit. For example, thethreshold may be input through an administrative tool, determined from alocal or remote database, or from user input. Though, the threshold maybe determined in any suitable way.

At step 305, the total amount of the network resource currently consumedis determined. The amount consumed may be determined from a local recordof usage, determined from user input, accessed over the network, ordetermined in any suitable way.

At step 307 a determination is made whether a network operation is inprogress. A network operation could be any operation that results in anyform of consumption of the network resource that is being managed. Ifthe network resource is transferred data, a network operation mayinclude copying that data over a network service, for example, sendinginformation (uploading), receiving information (downloading), or acombination of uploading and downloading.

Method 300 waits at step 307 until a network operation begins beforecontinuing to step 309. At step 309, a determination is made whether thenetwork operation has caused (or will cause) consumption of a networkresource to exceed the threshold. In some embodiments, one or morethresholds may be checked at step 309. For example, method 300 may checkresource usage against multiple thresholds at step 309 (e.g., at 80, 90,95 and 100%). Though, in some embodiments separate instances of method300 are performed to check each threshold.

If the network operation relates to a determinable quantity of content,the total usage after completing the network operation may be predictedand compared to the threshold. The total usage may, for example, bepredicted by adding the total usage determined at step 305 to thequantity of content to be loaded. If the network operation relates to anindeterminate amount of content, such as a live media stream or atelephone call, method 300 may compare the total amount of networkresource consumed to the threshold.

In either case, if the threshold is not exceeded, the method returns tostep 305. If, however, the threshold is exceeded, method 300 continuesto step 311 and an appropriate action is taken. For example, furtheraccess to the network resource may be blocked or limited, the userdevice may be switched to a different network service provider, or awarning indication may be output to the user. For example, an audiblesound may be made, a message may be displayed, total consumption of thenetwork resource displayed, or a percent consumption of the resourcerelative to the usage limit displayed. FIGS. 4A-4B, discussed below,illustrate some example embodiments of a warning indicator.

Method 300 may more generally be used to managing any budget, not justusage limits. A budget may include an amount of the network resource auser, device or application may consume before some action istriggered—whether that action is issuing a warning, blocking furtherusage of the network resource or other suitable action. Though, a budgetmay be set for any one or more users, devices, applications or otherentities. The budget may be obtained in ways similar to obtaining theusage limit discussed above. If the budget has not been set by the useror a group administrator, a suitable default value may be selected. Forexample, the default value may be the usage limit or the usage limitdivided by the number of users of the network resource sharing the usagelimit.

In some embodiments, multiple instances of method 300 may be executedfor managing the same or different network resources. Separate instancesof method 300 may be implemented for each budget that pertains to anetwork resource that is being consumed. Though, a single instance ofmethod 300 may be used to track multiple budgets. For example, budgetsrelating to a user, a device, and application may simultaneously bemanaged by a single instance of method 300 or separate instances ofmethod 300 may be used to manage the budgets. Similarly, the same ordifferent instances of method 300 may be used to check each of multiplethresholds. Single or multiple instances of method 300 may be used tomanage multiple budgets or thresholds in any suitable way.

Some embodiments of the warning indicator discussed above with referenceto step 311 are shown in FIGS. 4A-4B. FIG. 4A shows a user device 400. Aflag 401 indicates that the user device has exceeded a thresholdassociated with a network resource. If multiple thresholds are set, thecolor of the indicator may be used to indicate the highest exceededthreshold. For example, a yellow flag may indicate 80% of the networkresource usage limit has been consumed. Similarly, an orange flag and ared flag may be used to indicate 90% and 95%, respectively, of thenetwork resource usage limit has been consumed.

FIG. 4B shows a user device 402 displaying a warning indicator 403according to some embodiments. Indicator 403 is a progress barindicating the consumption of the network resource relative to the usagelimit. For example, the entire length of indicator 403 may represent ausage limit or other budget, and the patterned portion may represent howmuch of the network resource has been consumed. In the example,indicator 403 shows that about 85% of the resource being monitored isconsumed.

It should be appreciated that indicators 401 and 403 shown in FIGS. 4Aand 4B, respectively, are merely exemplary. Consumption of the networkresource may be indicated in any suitable way.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method 500 of managing a network resourceaccording to some embodiments. In some embodiments, method 500 is acomputer-implemented method. The steps of method 500 may be performed ona single computer or performed by two or more computers. Though, method500 may be implemented in any suitable way. In some embodiments, method500 is implemented, at least in part, on a user device.

At step 501, a usage limit is determined. At step 503, a threshold isdetermined. At step 505, the total usage is determined. At step 507 itis determined if a network operation is in progress. Steps 501, 503, 505and 507 may be performed in ways similar to steps 301, 303, 305 and 307of method 300 (FIG. 3), respectively. It should be appreciated thatmethod 500 may be used to test one or more the thresholds related to theusage limit. Accordingly, more than one threshold may be loaded at step503. Though method 500 is described with reference to a usage limit, itshould be appreciated method 500 may be applied to managing a budget ofa network resource.

Method 500 continues to check for a network operation at step 507 untila network operation is detected, then proceeds to step 509. At step 509,method 500 determines if the content corresponding to the networkoperation has a known size. For example, if a file is being downloaded,metadata sent before or with the file may indicate the file size.Though, content size may be determined in any suitable way. On the otherhand, if, for example, the user device is receiving streaming media ofunknown length (e.g., a live stream) or is engaged in a telephone call,the amount of network resource consumed to complete the loading may beunknown.

If the size is known, method 500 continues to step 511. At step 511 thetotal network resource usage for when the network operation completes ispredicted. The total resource usage may be predicted by adding the totalusage determined at step 505 to the amount of content to be loaded tocomplete the network operation.

At step 513 it is predicted whether the total network resource usageafter the network operation is complete will exceed the threshold. If itis determined the threshold will not be exceeded, method 500 may end.Though, in some embodiments, method 300 may return to step 505 tocontinue monitoring the threshold as shown by dashed line 510.

If it is predicted at step 513 that the threshold will be exceeded,method 500 continues to step 515 and outputs an indication of the totaluse of the network resource. Total use may be indicated in ways similarto those discussed above at step 311 of method 300, in the ways shown inFIGS. 4A-4B, or in any suitable way. After step 515 method 500 may endor return to step 503 to load another threshold and continue (notshown). In some embodiments, the indication of total use may prompt theuser asking whether they wish to continue the network operation orchange how the network operation is performed. Method 500 may thencontinue to step 527 which is discussed below.

Returning to step 509, if it is determined that the data does not have aknown size, method 500 continues to step 521.

At step 521, it is determined whether the network operation has exceededthe threshold. In some embodiments, the determination is made bycomparing the total usage of the network resource determined at step 505to the threshold determined at step 503. Though, the determination maybe made in any suitable way. If it is determined at step 521 that thetotal usage of the network resource does not exceed the threshold,method 500 returns to step 505.

If, however, the threshold is exceeded, method 500 continues to step 523where the rate of use is estimated. Estimating the rate of use may beperformed in ways known in the art. In some embodiments, the rate of usemay be estimated by dividing the total amount of the data transmittedand/or received by the user device during a fixed time interval by thelength of the time interval. For example, the rate of use may bedetermined as an amount of data loaded per second. Though, the rate ofuse may be determined in any suitable way.

At step 525, the amount of time before exceeding the usage limit ispredicted. In some embodiments, the difference between the usage limitand the total use is divided by the rate of use to estimate the time. Anindicator may be used to show the amount of time before exceeding theusage limit.

In some embodiments, method 500 may provide the option to change how thenetwork operation is being performed at step 527. If changing how thenetwork operation is performed is not available or not desired (“No”,step 527), method 500 may end or return to step 503 to monitor foranother threshold (not shown).

If changing how the network operation is performed is available, at step527 it is determined whether such a change is desired. Whether a changeis desired may be determined by policy, user input, or in any suitableway. In some embodiments, the user is prompted that the usage limit isbeing approached. The prompt may give the user the option to continuethe network operation at the current quality, to reduce the quality ofthe network operation, to cancel the network operation, to switch toanother network, or to perform any other suitable action. In someembodiments, a policy may be evaluated to determine if and howperformance of the network operation should be changed. In someembodiments, a determination is made whether the content is availableusing another network service available to the device. A list of networkservices through which the network operation may be performed may bepresented to a user for selection of a network service. Though, anetwork service may be selected automatically, for example, if the userdoes not respond to the prompt.

If it is determined at step 527 not to change how the network operationis performed, method 500 may end. If it is determined at step 527 tochange how the network operation is being performed, method 500continues to step 529. At step 529, how the network operation is beingperformed is changed. For example, the network operation may beperformed on a different network or at reduced quality using the currentnetwork. In some embodiments, the quality is reduced by reducing therate of use of the network resource. For example, an audio streamencoded at 128 kilobits per second may be reduced to 64 kilobits persecond. In some embodiments, the quality may be reduced by switching toa lower priority connection. In some embodiments, the network operationis cancelled.

If the file size of the content of the network operation is unknown,after changing performance of the network operation, method 500 mayrecalculate, at step 531, the amount of time the network operation maycontinue before exceeding the usage limit. After recalculating at step531 or, if the file size is known, method 500 may end.

FIG. 6A-6C show warning indicators displayed on a user device 600 whileloading content of unknown size. In FIG. 6A, user device 600 displays awarning indicator 601 when a threshold has been exceeded. The indicatordisplays an amount of time before the usage limit is predicted to beexceeded. In some embodiments, the indicator counts down until thecapacity is reached. In addition to counting down based on a systemclock, the predicted amount of time may be periodically updated byrecalculating the rate of use and using the new rate to predict theamount of time until the usage limit is reached.

FIG. 6B shows user device 600 displaying a prompt 603 to the user.Prompt 603 indicates that a threshold has been reached (usage limit inthis example), and asks the user to indicate if a reduction in qualityshould be made. Specifically, prompt 603 prompts the user to indicatewhether she wishes to continue pay for a high-speed connection. If theuser selects “Yes” the high-speed connection is maintained. If the userselects “No” the connection may be terminated because the usage limithas been reached, or the user may switch to a different networkresource. FIG. 6B shows user device 600 after the user selects “No”according to some embodiments. In this example, user device 600 isconfigured for a lower definition network service and continues theloading process, though, at a lower quality. If the user does notrespond to the prompt in a timely fashion, user device 600 may determineif and how to change performance of the network operation.

Having discussed methods for managing and predicting usage of a networkresource, an administrative tool is described with reference to FIGS.7-12. As discussed above, the administrative tool allows anadministrator of the group of users to review usage of network resourcesby the group of users and set budgets for users, devices andapplications as desired. The administrative tool may be used formanaging network services, for example, in a domestic, professional orindividual setting. Though, the administrative tool may be used for anysuitable group of one or more users.

For purpose of illustration of the administrative tool, a group of fourusers and their devices and network services are described withreference to an embodiment of a user interface of the administrativetool. It should be appreciated that the administrative tool may be usedfor any suitable group of users, devices and services.

FIG. 7 shows a user interface 700 of the administrative tool accordingto some embodiments. The user interface may be provided on a user devicehaving access to a database related to the group of users. For example,the administrative tool may be an application 205 on a user device 200having access to a local or remote database, such as database 210 (FIGS.2A-2B). User interface 700 may provide selection options 710 for theadministrator for managing network services. In some embodiments,selection options 710 provide different ways for the administrator tomanage and control a set of network services. In the illustratedembodiments, selection options 710 include an option 711 for managing bynetwork service provider, an option 713 for managing by user, an option715 for managing by device, and an option 717 for managing byapplication. Each of these options is presently discussed.

FIG. 8A shows a user interface 800 of the administrative tool when, forexample, the option for managing by network service provider is selected(e.g., option 711, FIG. 7). User interface 800 includes a list ofnetwork services 802. Illustrated in user interface 800 are four networkservices: wireless carrier A 801, wireless carrier B 803, a WirelessMetropolitan Area Network (WMAN) service 805 and a cable service 807.The list of network services 802 are exemplary, and an administrativetool may be configured to manage and suitable set of network services.

User interface 800 provides a summary for each network service 802. Thesummary may include, for example, information about cost of the networkservice, the network resources 817 provided by the network service, asummary of usage 819 of each network resource, a usage limit 809 foreach network resource, information about how use of the network resourceis calculated (peak or off-peak times), which users and devices accessthe network service, and any other information related to the networkservice.

Each network resource 817 may have a usage limit 809 associated with it.The summary of usage shows the total use of each network resource. Forexample, Wireless Carrier A has two network resources being managed:voice and data. The voice network resource has a usage limited of 900minutes and the data network resource has a data limit of 1 GB. Whilehere, for simplicity, voice is shown as a single network resource, itshould be appreciated that different kinds of voice usage may be treatedas different network resources. Wireless carriers may set separate usagelimits for voice usage base on the day, time, call origin, calldestination, or any other factor. For example, daytime, peak, off-peak,regional, national, international, preferred country, and other kinds ofvoice usage may each be treated as separate network resources. A usermay have, for example, an account where off-peak/national calling isunlimited, daytime/national has a usage limit of 900 minutes per month,and international calling is billed at a per minute rate. Each could betreated as a distinct network resource.

An option 811 may be used to control what time period the displayedusage data relates to. For simplicity, user interface 800 uses the sameperiod for each network service. Though, different periods may be usedfor each network service, and/or network resource.

In addition to displaying the total use of each network resource, theusage may be broken down into further details. For example, the totaluse may be broken into segments attributable to each user, device, orapplication. Though, data use may be displayed in any suitable way. Userinterface 800 shows an example where option 813 has been selected tobreak down total use by user. In the example of user interface 800 aprogress bar-type chart is shown with each user's use represented by adifferent pattern. A legend 815 is used to interpret the patterns. Inthe example, a first portion 821 of the voice use of Wireless Carrier Awas used by user “Joey” and a second portion 823 was used by user“Sally”. The use of a progress bar-type chart is illustrative, and anysuitable way of indicating usage may be provided. In some embodiments, anetwork service provider may provide the network resource using one ormore different technologies. For example, wireless data transfer may beprovided by a mobile carrier using 2G, 3G, or WiMAX. Option 813 may bedisplayed such that resource usage may be presented to show how much ofa network resource was used using each technology. In some embodiments,communication using each technology is treated as a separate networkresource. For example, separate usage limits may be set for 2G, 3G, andWiMAX communications.

Note that cable service 807 is shown to have an unlimited usage limit ofdata. The administrative tool may be useful, even for unlimitedresources, to manage or limit usage of certain users, devices, orapplications.

FIG. 8B shows user interface 800 after selection of a network servicefrom the list of network services according to some embodiments.Selection may be made, for example, using a cursor 851 and a suitablepointing device (not shown). In the illustrated example, a pop-up window853 is displayed when Wireless Carrier A is selected. Pop-up window 853may be used to show information about the service plan associated withthe network service, which users may access the network service, andwhich devices may connect to the network service. In some embodiments,an option change the service plan may be available. For example, theusage limits of a network resource may be adjusted. Also, users anddevices may be added or removed from the network service.

In some embodiments, an indication of what behavior should occur if theusage limit is reached. A policy may require a warning be issued tousers of the network service or that access to the service be stoppedonce the usage limit is reached. In some embodiments, policy may be setglobally for the service or, for example, on a per user, per device, orper application basis.

FIG. 9A shows a user interface 900 of the administrative tool when aparticular network service is selected for inspection. For this example,the WMAN service is selected. Associated with the WMAN service may be agroup of users 901. A group of devices 903 may also be associated withthe WMAN service.

User interface 900 may show a breakdown of the network resource usage onthe WMAN. In this example, the network resource is transmission of dataand has a usage limit 907 of 5 GB. In addition to providing total use917, details of use may be broken down, for example, by user, device, orapplication. In the example shown in FIG. 9B, option 913 is selected tobreak down usage by device. A list of devices 905 and the use 911 of thenetwork resource by each device may be shown. The time period for whichusage information is displayed may be adjusted with option 915.

FIG. 9B shows a user interface 950 of the administrative tool forreviewing information about network resource use related to WirelessService A. For this example, network resource usage information ispresented by user in user interface 950. Note that user Joey has usedmore than his budget. This may be possible when the budget is not set asa hard limit.

FIG. 10A shows a user interface 1000 of the administrative tool when,for example, the option for managing by user is selected (e.g., option713, FIG. 7). In this example, user interface 100 provides a pluralityof tabs 1001. For the purposes of illustration User Diane's tab isselected. The user's use of the network services' resources may bereviewed, for example, by service, device, or by application byselecting the service option 1003, the device option 1005, or theapplication option 1007, respectively. In this example, use is reviewedby service. A list of the user's services and an indication of how muchof the resource has been consumed is provided. In some embodiments, ause budget of a network resource may be assigned to the user. Use of thenetwork resource may be indicated relative to the budget, rather thanthe usage limit for the group of users. In some embodiments, a budgetmay not be defined, and a relative comparison may be made to the usagelimit.

FIG. 10B shows user interface 1000 after selection of a network servicefrom the list of network services according to some embodiments. Apop-up window may provide for setting a budget and behavior when thebudget is reached. Policy may also be set for what occurs when the usagelimit of the network resource is reached.

FIG. 11A shows a user interface 1100 for viewing a user's network use bydevice. Block 1110 provides a summary of a user's use of a phone. Notethat network resources of the same type (e.g., data) may be displayedtogether or separately even if they are associated with differentnetwork services. For example, Diane's Phone may use the data networkresource from both the Wireless Service B and from WMAN. The total useof data by the device may be shown together, or listed separately.

In some embodiments, devices may have separate budgets from users and/ordevices. User interface 1100 as shown in FIG. 11B, for example, showswhere the budget for the console system XBox is set. For example, when auser is playing a particular game (application) on the XBox console,network usage may count toward budgeted amounts for each of the user,application, and the console. It may be possible that an administratorsets budgets that are conflicting. That is, for one or more of the userbudget, the device budget, and the application budget may permitcontinued usage while, at the same time, one or more of the same budgetsmay not permit further usage. If budgets are set that may be conflictingthen a policy may resolve which budgets should be enforced. For example,the policy may enforce each budget, taking action when the any of thebudgeted limits are reached or give certain budgets priority over otherbudgets.

A user interface similar to user interface 1100 may be provided inresponse to user selection of the option for managing by device isselected (e.g., option 715, FIG. 7). For example, all devices may belisted, and information may be displayed for total device usage, usageper user, use per network service, and/or use per application.

FIG. 12A shows a user interface 1200 of the administrative tool when,for example, the option for managing by application is selected (e.g.,option 717, FIG. 7). In some embodiments, use of network resources foreach application may be logged. In some embodiments, applications aregrouped based on type and use of the network resource by an applicationtype may be displayed. FIG. 12A shows use of network resources by fourgroups of applications: email, web browsers, games, and multimedia. Foreach application, usage may further be broken down by user, device,and/or network service. User interface 1200 shows the network resourcesused by each application type broken down by user.

FIG. 12B shows user interface 1200 with a pop-up that may appear tofurther break down network usage. In the example shown, a cursor 1201selects a network usage of games played by Joey. The pop-up mayindicate, for example, the total amount of network resource used, thetotal amount of time over which the network resource was used, and bywhich networks the network resource was used on.

It should be appreciated that usage may be monitored and budgeted by anadministrator in other suitable ways as well. For example, usage limitsmay be set for a voice user based on the call recipient, time of day, orany other suitable parameter. As another example, an administrator maylimit the length of time for individual session, a frequency ofsessions, or place a usage limit for a network resource during a periodof time (e.g., limit of 2 hours of games per day). Further, usage limitsmay be set based on the type of usage, for example, multimedia downloadsmay be limited, but general web browsing may be unlimited.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of thisinvention, it is to be appreciated that various alterations,modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled inthe art.

Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to bepart of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit andscope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description anddrawings are by way of example only.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention can beimplemented in any of numerous ways. For example, the embodiments may beimplemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, the software code can be executed on anysuitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided in asingle computer or distributed among multiple computers.

Further, it should be appreciated that a computer may be embodied in anyof a number of forms, such as a rack-mounted computer, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer. Additionally, acomputer may be embedded in a device not generally regarded as acomputer but with suitable processing capabilities, including a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a gaming console (e.g., Xbox), adigital video recorder (DVR), set-top boxes, or any other suitableportable or fixed electronic device.

Also, a computer may have one or more input and output devices. Thesedevices can be used, among other things, to present a user interface.Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user interfaceinclude printers or display screens for visual presentation of outputand speakers or other sound generating devices for audible presentationof output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a userinterface include keyboards, and pointing devices, such as mice, touchpads, and digitizing tablets. As another example, a computer may receiveinput information through speech recognition or in other audible format.

Such computers may be interconnected by one or more networks in anysuitable form, including as a local area network or a wide area network,such as an enterprise network or the Internet. Such networks may bebased on any suitable technology and may operate according to anysuitable protocol and may include wireless networks, wired networks orfiber optic networks.

Also, the various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded assoftware that is executable on one or more processors that employ anyone of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, suchsoftware may be written using any of a number of suitable programminglanguages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may becompiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code thatis executed on a framework or virtual machine.

In this respect, the invention may be embodied as a computer readablemedium (or multiple computer readable media) (e.g., a computer memory,one or more floppy discs, compact discs, optical discs, magnetic tapes,flash memories, circuit configurations in Field Programmable Gate Arraysor other semiconductor devices, or other tangible computer storagemedium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one ormore computers or other processors, perform methods that implement thevarious embodiments of the invention discussed above. The computerreadable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program orprograms stored thereon can be loaded onto one or more differentcomputers or other processors to implement various aspects of thepresent invention as discussed above.

The terms “program” or “software” are used herein in a generic sense torefer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executableinstructions that can be employed to program a computer or otherprocessor to implement various aspects of the present invention asdiscussed above. Additionally, it should be appreciated that accordingto one aspect of this embodiment, one or more computer programs thatwhen executed perform methods of the present invention need not resideon a single computer or processor, but may be distributed in a modularfashion amongst a number of different computers or processors toimplement various aspects of the present invention.

Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally,program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modulesmay be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in anysuitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may beshown to have fields that are related through location in the datastructure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigningstorage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium thatconveys relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanismmay be used to establish a relationship between information in fields ofa data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or othermechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.

Various aspects of the present invention may be used alone, incombination, or in a variety of arrangements not specifically discussedin the embodiments described in the foregoing and is therefore notlimited in its application to the details and arrangement of componentsset forth in the foregoing description or illustrated in the drawings.For example, aspects described in one embodiment may be combined in anymanner with aspects described in other embodiments.

Also, the invention may be embodied as a method, of which an example hasbeen provided. The acts performed as part of the method may be orderedin any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may be constructed inwhich acts are performed in an order different than illustrated, whichmay include performing some acts simultaneously, even though shown assequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in theclaims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote anypriority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or thetemporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are usedmerely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain namefrom another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinalterm) to distinguish the claim elements.

Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of“including,” “comprising,” or “having,” “containing,” “involving,” andvariations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listedthereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.

1. A method performed by a computing device, the method comprising:providing the computing device with access to network usage of a networkand a corresponding threshold, the network usage comprising an amount ofdata transmitted via the network or an amount of time during which thenetwork has been in use; monitoring use of the network to detect anoperation on the computing device that uses the network, the operationhaving either a determinate amount of data to be transferred by theoperation or having a rate of data transfer for performing theoperation; either (a) determining from the determinate amount and thenetwork usage whether the operation will exceed the threshold, or (b)determining that the operation has exceeded the threshold, the thresholdless than a corresponding budget or corresponding usage limit; andresponsive to having determined that the operation has exceeded or willexceed the threshold, displaying on a display of the computing deviceinformation indicating that the threshold has been or will be exceeded.2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising computing a timefor the operation to reach the budget according to the rate of datatransfer and displaying on the display information indicating thecomputed time.
 3. A method according to claim 1, further comprisingallowing the user to alter how the operation is performed.
 4. A methodaccording to claim 3, wherein the altering how the operation isperformed comprises either lowering a quality or priority of aconnection through the network that is used by the operation, causingthe operation to use another network, continuing the operation with anadded financial charge, or cancelling the operation.
 5. A methodaccording to claim 3, further comprising computing a time to reach thebudget or usage limit according to the altered performance of theoperation.
 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the computingdevice comprises a cellular telephone.
 7. A method according to claim 1,wherein the network usage is measured relative to a fixed period oftime.
 8. A computer-readable storage medium comprisingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer,perform a method of managing a network resource, the method comprisingacts of: connecting the computer to a first network providing thenetwork resource; transferring content over the first network, thetransferring consuming at least a portion of the network resource;outputting an indication that an amount of the network resource consumedexceeds a threshold, prior to completing transfer of the content; andprompting the user to select a second network if the threshold equals abudget.
 9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein outputtingan indication comprises: predicting a total amount of the networkresource consumed after transferring the content; determining thepredicted amount of the network resource consumed after transferring thecontent will exceed the threshold; outputting an indication that thethreshold will be exceeded before completion of transferring thecontent; and if the threshold equals the budget, in response toreceiving a selection of the second network connecting to the secondnetwork to complete transferring the content.
 10. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 8, further comprising, prior to the act oftransferring the content, downloading time-insensitive content if it isdetermined that the network resource consumed does not exceed a secondthreshold.
 11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, whereinthe network resource is downloaded data to a user device from thenetwork and transferring content comprises downloading content to theuser device from the network.
 12. The computer-readable storage mediumof claim 8, wherein the threshold is a usage limit, and outputting theindication comprises prompting the user whether to continue using thenetwork once the network resource has been exceeded.
 13. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein outputting theindication comprises prompting the user whether to reduce a quality ofthe transferred content.
 14. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 8, further comprising: obtaining a current total usage of thenetwork resource; determining a size of the at least a portion of thenetwork resource yet to be consumed by completing transfer of thecontent; adding, to form a sum, the current total usage and the size ofthe at least a portion of the network resource yet to be consumed; anddetermining the sum exceeds the threshold.
 15. A method of managing anetwork resource, the method comprising: obtaining a usage limit on thenetwork resource; receiving input assigning a budget of the networkresource to each of a plurality of resource consumers; and receivinginput specifying an operation to perform if the amount of the networkresource consumed by one of the plurality of resource consumers meets orexceeds the resource consumer's respective budget.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the network resource is data from a wireless serviceand the usage limit is an amount of said data.
 17. The method of claim15, further comprising displaying an indication of an amount of thenetwork resource consumed by each of the plurality of the resourceconsumers.
 18. The method of claim 15, wherein the resource consumerconsists of at least one of a user, a device, and an application. 19.The method of claim 15, wherein the resource consumers are a first typeof resource consumers, the method further comprising displaying anindication of an amount each of the first type of resource consumersconsumed with a second type of resource consumer.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, wherein the first type of resource consumer is a user, and thesecond type of resource consumer is a computing device, and thedisplaying comprises displaying an indication of an amount of theresource consumed with the computing device by each user.